OLD HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS. 247 



demand of the towns. Sprays and sprigs may be con- 

 nived at, but this year I lost most of my beautiful young 

 holly-trees, the cherished nurslings of my hedge-rows. 

 The holly *though indigenous with us, is a very slow 

 growing tree, and certainly the most ornamental of our 

 native foresters. Its fine foliage shining in vigor and 

 health, mingling with its brilliant coral beads, gives us 

 the cheering aspect of a summer's verdure when all 

 besides is desolation and decay. It is not only grateful 

 to the eye, but gives us pleasure, when we contemplate 

 the food it will afford our poor hedgefaring birds, when 

 all but its berries and those of the ivy are consumed ; 

 and we are careful to preserve these gay youths of 

 promise, when we trim our fences : but no sooner do 

 they become young trees, in splendid beauty, than the 

 merciless hatchet, in some December's night, lops off 

 their heads, leaving a naked unsightly stake to point 

 out our loss ; arid we grieve and are vexed, for they 

 never acquire again comparative beauty. These young 

 heads, that we have been robbed of, are in especial 

 request to form a bush, dependent from the centre of ' 

 the kitchen or the servants' hall, which in this season 

 of license and festivity becomes a station for extra 

 liberty, as every female passing under it, becomes sub- 

 ject to the salutation of her male companion. This centre 

 bush is often the object of particular decoration, being 

 surrounded by the translucent berries of the mistletoe, 

 and those of the ivy, dipped in blue and white starch. 

 But at this season I have noticed one remarkable deco- 

 ration among the natives of the principality. A large 

 white turnip is stuck as full as possible of black oats, 

 so as to hide almost the substance in which they are 

 set, and sometimes having compartments of white oats; 

 and being placed upon a candlestick, or some other ele- 

 vation, on the mantle-tree, presents an extraordinary 

 hedgehog-like appearance. The first adoption of this 

 purely rural fancy, and its designation, I am perfectly 

 unacquainted with ; but, when it is well executed, it 

 requires attentive examination to detect the device. 



We are no votarists of fortune here, nor do we trou- 

 ble ourselves concerning predestinate ordinations, or 



* See^iote GG, appendix. 



